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This is just shocking…

Oct 23rd, 2009
by Leah.
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This week Reporters Without Borders published its annual Press Freedom Index. As could be expected in the current political and media climate, Israel was ranked 93rd and 150th (inside and outside the Green Line), behind such bastions of the freedom of expression as Lebanon, Kuwait, and United Arab Emirates. Sure enough, Israel was singled out together with Iran in the group’s analysis of the index.

I am not at all upset by this new record of progressive anti-Semitism. Actually, I am quite happy. By falling off the deep end with its blatant anti-Israel rhetoric, international public opinion is administering a long-overdue course of shock therapy for Israel’s chronic insecurity complex. After decades of trying very hard to appease, of paying an arm and a leg (actually  hundreds upon hundreds of very literal arms, legs, limbs and lives of innocent terror victims) for the illusion of a new Middle East, of fantasizing about eating hummus in Damascus and doing business with the Emirates, of bringing the world the latest technical and medical innovations, of beating the world at its own game of military ethics, Israel is finally waking up to the fact that no matter how lovable it tries to appear, it will never become the world’s darling.

Believe me, the treatment is working, because Israelis are internalizing the message. They are refusing to cooperate with Goldstone’s kangaroo court, canceling all-included tour packages to the Turkish Riviera, and staying away from cultural talks with the Israel-bashing Egyptian intelligentsia. Even the ultra-liberal Israeli press is beginning to call things by their names.

Slowly but surely Israel is rediscovering Ben Gurion’s maxim of “it doesn’t matter what the Gentiles will say; what matters is what the Jews will do.”

A Letter to Goldstone

Oct 19th, 2009
by Leah.
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Someone sent me a copy of a letter in which a personal friend of Judge Goldstone berates him for his involvement with the anti-Israel committee named after him.

I have no idea whether the cover story is true and who really penned this letter, but that in no way diminishes the poignancy of the arguments or the validity of the facts.

Judge for yourself.

To: Judge Richard Goldstone
From: Barbara Press
Subject: Hello Richard… It’s been a while…

Dear Richard

Our paths have crossed many times compelling me to correspond directly with you. I pray your indulgence that you hear me out by reading to the end of my missive. In fact I ask you to share my letter with Noleen from beginning to end and to respond with your thoughts.

It has been a while since (inspired by you as head of ORT South Africa) I, together with Rabbi Bernard at Oxford Shule, established a school to teach the Killarney-Houghton Black domestic workers how to write, read, sew, cook and drive. It has been a while since you praised my father, Hubert Press, as one of the finest business brains  you had ever encountered. It has been a while since I dined with you, Noleen, David and Marilyn Rivkin, discussing opera.

Jewish life has been crying out for a man of the stature of Adolph Cremieux, of Justice Louis Brandeis, of Sir Moses Montefiore, people of the highest integrity and purpose. For those who champion their own people are remembered forever in the annals of history. But those who are self-serving are lost in a trail of ignominy.

South African Jewry stands tall and your efforts in championing Truth and Reconciliation in South Africa were applauded and earned you a  reputation as a man of stature.

I am bewildered by the direction you have taken as part of the United Nations Human Rights Council. This rogue Council has been tainted by a membership that does not condemn Iranian tyranny, Chinese oppression, African despotism, but spends their time condemning one country unjustly, Israel.

The Goldstone Commission bears your name. One would expect the mandate of any report to be objective, so that your name could be respected and a legacy ensured. Instead your committee ignored the facts, embraced bias and rendered the report bearing your name,  illegitimate.

You tried to defend yourself in the New York Times but it was transparent and not effective. You could have resigned from the commission and retained your integrity. You knew that Israel faced 12,000 Grads and Kassams from its Iran-backed terror base of Gaza, 8,000 irreversibly traumatizing the families and children of Sderot. You knew that the U.N. never passed one resolution condemning these deadly missiles. You knew that before and during Operation Cast Lead, Israel made thousands of cell phone calls to warn civilians. You knew that Israel sent thousands of texts to warn civilians. You knew that Israel dropped hundreds of thousands of leaflets in Arabic (I managed to obtain one of these as evidence) to warn civilians. You knew that Israel aborted operations to avoid civilian deaths. You knew that Israel set up medical facilities on the edge of Gaza to treat civilians. You knew that Israel dropped supplies of food into Gaza to feed civilians.

You also knew that Hamas operatives are not “civilians”. You knew that not only were they not civilians, but that they hid behind their own civilians to fire on Israeli civilians. You knew that they misused ambulances for military purposes. You knew that mosques and schools were used for Hamas depots and launching pads. You knew that Hamas operatives kill or shoot at the legs of any Gazans refusing to target Israel.

The video footage and U-tube sequences are still available for any and all of us to witness.

You clearly knew that one of your team members had condemned Israel in a published letter, even before the conclusion of the incursion or  the beginning of your investigation. But you did not resign or distance yourself from the hypocrisy of this illegitimate report.  Instead, a tedious 500-page report of the 3 week battle was padded with pages from the tainted U.N. mockery of Israel’s security barrier (misnamed the “wall”). What a sad indictment of the charter of the United Nations.

Richard, you were indeed a respected legal giant in Johannesburg. This report did not arise from ignorance or naivete. I am trying so hard to resist the conclusion that your role and report might represent a self-serving desire to ingratiate yourself for a more senior position in the kangaroo court called the United Nations. But  if true – and one hopes that this is not the case – at what price?  Association with the infamous U.N.,  garners no respect in the USA so why would anyone seek to be head inmate at the U.N. Asylum?

I have been very direct as South Africans are want to be. But many of us South Africans have been tainted by the perfidy of the Goldstone report. This is the Jewish time of Judgment when the scales of fate are entered in the book of life and we all need to look into our souls. I am not sure how you could comfortably extricate yourself. Perhaps we could discuss this face to face.

Good Yomtov to you, Noleen and your family.

Regards,  Barbara Press Fix

A trip into the heartland

Oct 5th, 2009
by Leah.
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Yesterday, we took advantage of the holidays to visit friends in Elon Moreh. I haven’t been into the Shomron for about 10 years, so this was an excellent opportunity to get a fresh look at the area.

We usually take advantage of family trips to anchor our children’s knowledge of various subjects to the site of actual places and things. As we drove past Shilo, we reminded them of the story of Elkana, Chana, and Shmuel (1 Samuel 1). On top of Mount Kabir, we pointed out Joshua’s altar (Joshua 8:30), Shechem, Mounts Eval and Gerizim, and Tevetz from the story of Avimelech (Judges 9:50). (The names of Biblical sites all over Israel have been preserved in the names of adjacent Arab villages. You can read more about this here.)

What I did not expect was the effect that the trip had on me. When I first came to Israel, I was constantly aware of the Biblical sites around me. It took a while until the amazement and the feeling of privilege at being able to walk on the same hills as David, Shmuel, and Yermiyahu wore off. Since I am neither an archeologist nor a tour guide, after living in the midst of the Biblical heartland for some 15 years, it’s not something I think about on the day-to-day basis.

Yesterday’s one hour drive and the accompanying discussion with the children reawakened this dormant awareness. During the two-thousand-year-long exile , the Jewish people maintained a connection with this land to the point that centuries after the exile, Biblical commentators could draw on their knowledge of Israel’s geography and topography to explain difficult passages in the Torah (Rashi on Genesis 37:14 is just one such example). We didn’t give up on this land while separated from it and we certainly have no plans of giving up on it now that we live, raise children, and plant trees on its soil.

Today we plan to visit Beth El and Jerusalem is on the itinerary for later this week.  I’ am going to think of ideas from keeping familiarity blindness from taking over again.

More on pesticides

Oct 4th, 2009
by Leah.
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Recently, Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, the Chief Rabbi of Tzfat (Safed), revealed that many growers of insect-free greens (the so-called Gush Katif vegetables) use extreme amounts of pesticides instead of employing the more intricate greenhouse methods originally developed in Gush Katif. the Chief Rabbi of Israel Rabbi Shlomo Amar confirmed that there is evidence to support these allegations and disclosed that an investigation is underway.

Ironically, while excessive amounts of pesticides are detrimental to human health, they have only a limited effect on bugs.

As much as I would love to switch to organic vegetables, when it comes to greens it’s just not an option. Whenever we visit my parents in the US, I find myself squinting over cilantro and lettuce trying to discern whether there is a bug stuck somewhere on the leaves. However, I have decided to switch over to the Hasalat brand by Alei Katif (the original Gush Katif company). Though slightly more expensive, Hasalat greens are laboratory inspected for pesticide use (as evidenced by the lab label on their packaging).

The laboratory’s site www.lab-path.co.il lists the date of the latest inspection at the premises of each one of the growers. While it’s impossible to ascertain what really goes on in the field, for me this represents an effort at transparency.

Netanyahu at the 92 Street Y

Sep 29th, 2009
by Leah.
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The appraisals of Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech at the UN range from an exercise in futility to an address worthy of the new leader of the free world (especially against the backdrop of Obama’s tepid remarks).

Whatever one may think of the UN speech, I have found Netanyahu’s address before the Jewish American leaders at the 92nd Street Y to be very poignant. In it Netanyahu cited the Lubavitcher Rebbe as the driving force behind his 25-year-long career as Israel’s leading advocate abroad and the inspiration for the latest appearance before the UN.

Netanyahu revealed that he had met the Rebbe in 1984, while serving as Israel’s ambassador to the UN, and was instructed to light a candle of truth in the pitch darkness reigning inside the house of lies (Rebbe’s assessment of the UN). In his interview to the Israeli TV, Netanyahu said this message has been guiding him ever since.

Giving credit where credit is due is always admirable.

You can view Netanyahu’s entire speech at the 92 street Y here:

From Mahmoody to Goldstone and back

Sep 28th, 2009
by Leah.
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While reading Betty Mahmoody’s For the Love of a Child (the sequel to Not Without My Daughter), I got an insight into the folly known as the Goldstone Report. What’s the connection, you may ask? Read on.

As a mother, I wholeheartedly understand Betty Mahmoody’s motivation for fleeing Iran to bring up her daughter in a democratic Western society. But if we put aside our cultural biases, is there really a difference between Betty’s abduction of her daughter to the US (following which, the girl was forever separated from her father) and the husband’s original insistence on moving the family to Iran, even at the expense of separating the child from the mother? Each one of the parents wanted to bring up the child in his or her native culture, and, unable to reach an agreement, acted unilaterally on this desire. (I am aware of Betty’s claims of abuse, but I am setting this issue aside for the sake of the argument).

Likewise, though I wholeheartedly support the efforts of Yad Leachim to bring Jewish women married to Arab men (as well as the children of these marriages) back to the fold, I understand that my outlook is colored by my Jewish faith. The mechanism by which a Jewish woman takes her children unilaterally from Ramallah to Jerusalem to bring them up as Jews is the same as the one employed by her husband to take them back and raise them as Muslims.

So long as humanity is not united by a single ethical belief, the moral high ground often depends entirely on the subjective position of the observer. The same goes for Israel’s attempts to defend itself from its neighbors’ attacks. As long as the observers (be it the UN or the self-appointed European freedom fighters) have undertaken the Palestinian cause, no amount of ethical safety measures will absolve Israel from accusations of human rights violations.

To the contrary, the higher the hyper-ethical standard Israel attempts to maintain, the louder the accusations. I will never forget the terrifying hours during which we frantically tried to contact my brother-in-law stationed in Jenin, after hearing rumours of heavy casualties in the city during Operation Defensive Shield in April 2002. Though he emerged from combat unscathed, 13 of his comrades paid with their lives for Israel’s insistence on sending in ground troops in an effort to preserve civilian Palestinian lives. The “reward” for these efforts were movies the likes of Jenin Jenin and a worldwide outcry against Israel’s humanitarian violations.

In a similar vein, though IDF is the only army in the world to go through the pains of telephoning enemy civilians to warn them of planned air raids, as was done during the 2008 incursion into Gaza, Judge Goldstone and his ilk have no qualms lambasting Israel as a perpetrator of genocide.

Judaism’s dedication to the values of human life and compassion is unmatched by any religion. From ancient Jewish kings known throughout the world as “the kings of mercy” (1 Kings 20:31) to outstanding levels of voluntarism in modern Israel, Jews in general and Israelis in particular have no need for anyone’s ethical preaching. All efforts to live up to a superlative level of morality, not practiced anywhere else in the world, has so far backfired on Israel’s defensive efforts to defend itself.

The time has come for Israel to redefine its military ethic to conform to the Talmudic teaching of “if someone comes to kill you, arise and kill him first” (Sanhedrin 72a) and dispense with the attempts to save face while doing so. Though there’ll be little change in Israel’s public image, its defensive abilities will improve tremendously.

Tour of Jerusalem (in 4 minutes)

Sep 27th, 2009
by Leah.
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After living in and near Jerusalem for more than 15 years, I have finally found my favorite take on the city.

Thank you @CharlieKalech for sharing this on twitter.

Blood libels revisited

Aug 31st, 2009
by Leah.
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Recent reports of Israeli organ harvesting by the Swedish Aftonbladet reminded me of my childhood in Soviet Russia. As a kid growing up in Moscow, Palestinian refugees were perceived as the epitome of human despair.  The Soviet TV would present daily reports of humanitarian crimes perpetrated by the Israeli aggressors against powerless Palestinian civilians. Although I was only six at the time, I distinctly remember the gruesome reports from Sabra and Shatila that were broadcast on the evening news day in and day out. Whenever anyone in the house would wrap a blanket around himself to keep out the chills, my staunchly Zionist mother would tell him to stop walking around like a Palestinian refugee and go get a sweater.

Today, some 25 years later, I find disconcerting resemblance between Western – especially European – reporting of events in Israel and the best traditions of Pravda’s virulent anti-Semitism. By detaching the Palestinians’ plight from its overall historical context and inflating incidents out of proportion, the media has succeeded in vilifying Israel and creating an unprecedented wave of ill feeling towards a nation that has had to defend its right to exist since day one.

The truth is the Palestinians have remained refugees for 60 years not only because the Arab states have used every trick up their sleeve to keep them this way, but also because they are better off as refugees eating off Israel’s prosperity than as citizens in just about any Arab country. In a recent article in Asia Times, Spengler presents novel analysis of the Palestinians’ “plight” based on indisputable facts.

Palestinians enjoy higher GDP, life expectancy, and literacy rates than almost any Arab nation. Truth is Palestinian refugees are far better off economically and socially than the citizens of Egypt, Syria, or Jordan. A friend of mine, a bookkeeper at a Jerusalem nursing home, recently related her surprise when two new employees, both residing at the Shuafat refugee camp on the outskirts of Jerusalem, produced gold Visa cards as means of identification. (Gold Visas are not issued routinely in Israel, unlike in the US.)

Palestinians do suffer from high incidence of violent crime, internal fighting, and confrontations with the Israeli army. But they have written that script themselves. After two intifadas and thousands of casualties on both sides, some Palestinians now find themselves longing for the “the Israeli hell.”

Unfortunately, the new brand of European freedom fighters is keeping all that off its radar. As Thomas Friedman observed in his classic From Beirut to Jerusalem Blood libels revisited, the Palestinians are the luckiest refugees ever born. And Western society has a special affinity for them, as they allow it to shrug off its conscience, as embodied by the Jews, by doing a hatchet job on Israel. Besides, vilifying Israel also comes in handy when fund raising in Saudi Arabia.

I often wonder what it will take for our neighbours from across the Mediterranean to get over their prejudices and begin viewing Israel in a more objective light. Then again, may be we should stop being surprised. After all, history usually repeats itself.

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